The effect of swirl incorporated in the air supplied for combustion of solid fuel in a fixed bed was evaluated experimentally under a variety of operating conditions, for which a combustion pot mounted on a weighing balance was employed. It was found that the swirl imparted not only enhanced burning rate and the capacity of the furnace considerably, but also improved the combustion efficiency by reducing the quantity of excess air and the amount of unburnt carbon in the refuse. The physical variables studied at different swirl torques were air flow rate, particle size, bed height, presence of fines, moisture, or both. A brief discussion of the paper is appended.